Dark Spirits
by xxMiyuki5xx
Summary: The GMG is over and everything seems to settle down slowly, that is until Lucy gets a worrisome letter from the Spirit King. Now it's up to Lucy and the Team she brings together to find out what is happening with the Spirits all around Earthland and why it seems to originate in Bosco.
1. Chapter 1

**Soo... I know that I shouldn't start a new story when I already have problems updating my other ones but you see, the idea just wouldn't let go. I just had to write it and after finishing the first Chapter I just had to show you.**

**You will probably notice that there are a few changes to the canon Fairy Tail story; only three years on Tenrou and the eclipse spirits didn't happen.**

**In later Chapters I will use the wonderful Pradesh family from Desna. So I say it now: The Pradesh and most of what has to do with Bosco or the Pradeshverse in general belongs to her (I'm only saying it this once because I know that I'm going to forget to do so in later Chapters, hehe...). This will be my first time using them so I hope that I will get them right...**

**Of course Fairy Tail doesn't belong to me either.**

**Hopefully you all like this and tell me what you think about it. Reviews make my day!**

**Much love and enjoy reading!**

**Miyuki**

* * *

Lucy wakes up to a bright morning with sunlight shining through her windows. A sad sigh escapes her lips after realizing that Natsu and Happy once again weren't in her bed. This started a few days after they came back from the GMG, they and her other Team members are constantly requested for special missions. This leaves Lucy to be alone most of the time, apart from the time she spends at the Guild with her other friends, like Levy and Cana. But even the Guild is most of the time rather empty because all the members who fought, and so proved their strength, are getting these special requests.

It seems like she is the only one who isn't requested. Lucy doesn't really know when the last time was that everyone from Team Natsu was together. They all are happy when they have a few days before they need to leave for their next mission, but often there is only a day in between and most of the time everyone is back at different times.

And even though Lucy is lonely and sad that they are constantly away, she is more depressed that nobody requests her. This just shows her poor performance at the Games, although Lucy knows that it really wasn't her fault. Most of the people doesn't know that Raven Tail cheated, so she can somehow understand that she isn't requested. But that still doesn't change the fact that it's kind of depressing.

But Lucy being Lucy tries to see the good thing in this whole situation. The first good thing out of this being that without her Team there to destroy stuff she gets the whole reward on missions.

A lot of the Fairy Tail members always questioned her why she never took any Solo missions when she was short on rent money or money in generell, asking why she always depended on Natsu so much. None of them realized that it was because of a promise she made Natsu, the promise being that they will be partners. And Lucy never breaks her promises, even the ones she was tricked into and that was exactly what Natsu did. He tricked her into this promise, tricked her in so far that they didn't say that it was only for this one mission and that she promised him to be partners. So Lucy could only comply, not wanting to risk her magic and Keys, and be his partner in every mission, leaving her completely dependent on Natsu when she wants to take a mission.

That dependence was only over after she found out that Natsu has gone on a mission without her. From that moment she was freed from the promise, since he had broken it himself. She found this out almost too late to pay her rent in time, luckily her father left her a little more money, leaving her with just enough to pay on time.

The other good thing that came out of the whole situation is that without her Team constantly around and dragging her off to missions, she has finally the time to really train.

And the training is something she really needs.

A few days after she and Yukino closed the Eclipse Gate she realized that her magic constantly expands somehow and that her control on the growing power sometimes slips. The first time she noticed that she loses control over her magic or a part of her magic was when she suddenly saw something falling from her body, something that reminded her of the stardust that her Spirits leaves behind when they go back to their own world.

In her panic at seeing and to some degree feeling the magic particles leaving her body she called Loke and Crux. They explained to her that the opening of ten Gates normally would have killed a person, but she somehow survived. To survive, her body needed to replenish the used magic faster than normally possible. This is what saved her. The problem is that her magic still replenishes itself with this fast rate. Since her containers were too small to handle this, they are expanding rather fast. This leads to her losing control over the magic inside of her, there is just too much magic inside of her to handle with just two of her origins ope, her third origin needs to be opened.

And for that and to gain the control back over all of her magic she needs a lot of time to train.

About all of this Lucy thinks on her way to the clearing she uses to trains with Capricorn. Sometimes she stops on her way, having again noticed something that changed while they were trapped on Tenrou for three years. Even now, almost three months after coming back, she often finds it confusing what all had changes. Her favorite café, around the corner from her own apartment, is now a litte boutique. And the aforementioned café is now together with a little library in an even more beautiful building, with a direct view to a small park, which makes it one of her and Levy's favorite places in Magnolia.

Arriving, Lucy sits down in the middle of the clearing with her eyes closed and waiting for Capricorn to give her instructions. "Now, Miss Lucy, go into yourself and search for your magic. When you find it, try to release it evenly. Start with just a bit of your magic power. When you can handle that add steadily more of your magic until you reach the point where your control starts to lessen. At this point you should stop to add more magic and stabilize the current flow you are releasing."

A bright golden aura starts to grow around her, which flickers when her control starts to lessen. The resulting magical pressure is so strong that Lucy levitates a bit over the ground.

"Miss Lucy, I believe that you have reached a new step in your control. You were never before able to control so much magic. So I think it is time for a new method to learn more control. I want you to try to open your eyes, but don't stop the steady flow of your magic."

Opening her eyes for the first time while meditating Lucy gasps. Seeing the golden glow around her and that she levitates leads her to almost losing control. She closes her eyes again to steady her magic and then opens them again, now prepared for what she will see Lucy looks around in astonishment. Capricorn waits a few minutes before he once again starts giving instructions.

"Now that you can hold this with your eyes open, I want you to concentrate your magic in a sphere in front of you. Hold this sphere steady in front of you. Now try to move the sphere around, but slowly."

Lucy imagines a glowing golden sphere in front of her. Before her appears a sphere in the size of a head. The golden glow around her gets smaller since a part of the magic now goes to the sphere in front of her. Because the magic pressure is still the same, Lucy stays floating in the air.

Next Lucy concentrates on moving this sphere around her. At first Lucy moves the sphere slowly in a circle around her. Thinking that she has enough control, Lucy moves the sphere more randomly around her, trying to move it farther away from her.

"Good, Miss Lucy. Now move the sphere faster." Lucy steadily increases the speed, until it's hard to follow the sphere with the eyes and the only thing you can see is a golden blur. "Stop the sphere in front of you. Now try to form a second sphere." Capricorn observes how the one sphere in front of her splits and forms two smaller ones.

"Very good! Now move both of them around you, at first you should probably move them in the same direction. After a while you can try to move them separately." Like before, Lucy starts with slowly moving the spheres in a circle around her. A while later, like Capricorn advised, Lucy tries to move the spheres separately. At first she has difficulties with this but slowly Lucy is able to move them in different directions.

"This is very good, Miss Lucy. In fact this is a really amazing feat, to be able to form two spheres and then added to that, move them separately. And all of this in our first time trying this technique. I am really proud of you, Miss Lucy! I believe it is time for you to stop the meditation for now. Start with merging the spheres to a single one again. Then dissolve the sphere. After that it is the same as always, pull the magic slowly back inside of you. Try to let your eyes open during the whole process."

Lucy watches as the golden light around her slowly starts to decrease and she feels herself floating back to the earth until she hits solid ground underneath her again. Having finished the task Lucy takes a few deep breaths before letting herself fall back to the ground.

Capricorns is looking at her with pride in his eyes and smiles, "You did very good today, Miss Lucy. Next time we can try to move the two spheres faster and maybe even form more of them. I think you will be able to control more of your magic now and it shouldn't take much longer before you are able to open your third origin. But I still think you should call for Plue later to help you with controlling the magic. Right now you are exhausted, but we know how fast your magic replenishes at the moment."

"Alright Capricorn, thank you for your help! I see you next time. I think I will take a job tomorrow, so maybe our training schedule will change.", Lucy replies.

"Let me know when you know about the possible changes. If that will be all I will take my leave, Miss Lucy." After Lucy nods and smiles at him, Capricorn bows and vanishes back to the Spirit World, leaving behind the same magic particles Lucy now often emits herself.

Lucy stays a little while longer on the ground before she calls Loke to help her strengthen her body. To control this much magic power her body, too, must be trained.

Lucy and Loke starts with running a few laps around the clearing as a warm up. After that Loke wants her to do exercises to train her muscles. As last they spar, Loke wanting to see how much she remembers from the last training. He makes it a little easier for her today since he knows that she wants to take a mission and doesn't want her to be too exhausted.

Two hours later they finish. Loke gives Lucy some water and sits down next to her. When Lucy has recovered enough they go back to her apartment to freshen up before going to the Guild to find a job and maybe speak to some of the other members, knowing that no one from her Team will be back today.

* * *

On her way to the Guild Lucy calls out Plue because Capricorn was right, her magic containers are almost full again. Constantly having out a Spirit drains some of her magic in a save way to minimize the risk at losing control.

At the Guild Lucy immediately makes her way over to the bar to get a Strawberry-Smoothie. While waiting for the Smoothie to get ready, she walks to the request board and searches for a good mission.

**Help!**

**Capture small group of bandits.  
They are all non-mages.  
Attacks mostly occur at Day,  
escaping in crowd.**

**Location: Onibus  
Reward: 90.000 Jewel + 1 Silver Key**

_A Silver Key! And enough money to pay my rent with still some left to spar. And a small group of non-mages sounds rather easy. This job is perfect!_

Lucy happily takes the mission and walks back to the bar. She let Mira approve of the mission before sipping at her Smoothie while continuing to chat with her.

"Pun Puun.", Plue dances on the counter. "Of course Plue! Mira, one Lollipop please.", Lucy turns back to the smiling Mira.

"Coming right up." Mira searches for a Lollipop before coming back with one, "Here you go, little one." "Puun!", Plue takes the Lollipop and continues to dance his happy dance on the counter with the whole lollipop already in his mouth .

"Plue says thank you." Lucy and Mira both smile at the adorable scene.

Around evening Lucy makes her way back to her apartment to pack her bag for tomorrow. To be sure that she has enough, Lucy packs for a few more days, in the case that she needs a few days to find those bandits.

* * *

The next morning Lucy awakes to a heavenly smell and sunlight in her face. Virgo has already started to make some breakfast for her Princess. This, being out on Lucy's magic, of course is to help her control the magic. And Virgo knows that Lucy has a mission today and wants to help her Princess with a healthy breakfast.

"Princess, I already laid out some clothes for you to wear in the bathroom. And breakfast should be finished when you are ready. Do I need punishment?", Lucy hears from her kitchen. "Oh thank you Virgo, you are way to good to me. Of course you don't need punishment for something like that, but if you want to we can speak later about your punishment", Lucy smiles brightly at her trustworthy Spirit and loves they way her normally so stoic eyes light up.

After Virgo confirms, Lucy goes to the bathroom and gets ready. A few minutes later Lucy emerges from the bathroom, a cloud of strawberry and honey scented air around her.

"Princess, breakfast is finished. I hope everything is to your liking. The Spirit King trusted me with this letter for you.", Virgo bows and hands over the letter.

"Thank you Virgo, it smells amazing! Do you want to eat with me together or do you want to go back? I would be more than happy to have your company during breakfast. Oh and a letter from Stache Face? This must be pretty important then, I should read it immediately!", she answers before taking the offered letter.

"There is no need to rush, Princess. The King said, that you do not need to read it immediately, so you can wait and read the letter later on the train. And I would be honored to eat with you Princess but I do need to go back. Do I need punishment now?"

"Not now Virgo, we will talk later about it! Thanks again! I will read this on the train.", Lucy smiled at her.

"Then I will take my leave. I will store your bag in the Spirit World, call for me when you need it or anything else, Princess.", Virgo bows before she disappears.

Lucy sets the letter aside and starts eating her breakfast.

Finished with eating, Lucy cleans her kitchen before making her way to the train station. Letter secure in her hand.

At the train Lucy finds an empty compartment and starts reading the letter.

_Old Friend,_

_I have come to know that your magic power is out of control and that you emit something that resembles stardust.  
I know that your Spirits told you that this stardust is the result from your loss of control but this is only partly true. They did not know any better than that. __And you are emitting this stardust because you lose control of your magic but this stardust is a new kind of form to your magic.  
I believe that when you opened so many Gates to close the Eclipse Gate and not died from it, your magic expanded so much that you reached a new level. Normally to reach this level you would have to unlock your third origin, but because you haven't, you experience the lose of control added to this new type of magic. It has been a very long time since a Celestial mage was able to unlock or achieve this ability. This could be the reason why your Spirits did not know of this.  
This stardust is the caster part of your magic. You know that sadly most of the Celestial Spirit Mages see us Spirits as mere tools, so they at some point stopped using this part of their magic and then completely forgot about it.  
It is really astounding that you achieved this ability without training for it. This just means that your power and will to fight alongside your Spirits is really strong, strong enough to unlock it on your own.  
In short, with this stardust you can form things and perform spells. I will tell your other Spirits of this, so that they can help you train this new ability._

_There is another reason why I am writing you, Old Friend. Lately there have been disturbances in the Spirit World and some of the Spirits disappeared. I want to ask you to look out for anything suspicious. As soon as I know more about this matter I will send you another letter or let one of your Spirits tell you about it._

_I hope that nothing bad happens to you and we can see each other again sometime._

_Celestial Spirit King_

Lucy just stares wide eyed at the letter, her mouth agape. _A caster ability?! That means that I will be able to help my Spirits even more in fights! _Lucy can't stop the smile that spreads across her face at the thought of learning something new about her magic. And being able to help others more with it makes it even better.

But the last information in the letter worries and scares her. She hopes that the disappeared Spirits show up soon, she knows what happens to Spirits who can't go back and she really doesn't want to find any dull Keys, Keys that no longer have a Spirit. And she hopes that what ever it is won't effect her own Spirits, she can't stand the thought of losing her friends. Instinctual Lucy grabs her Keys and holds them to her chest, feeling them warm up to reassure her.

* * *

A few minutes later Lucy arrives at Onibus, seeing that it's still early she searches for the Mayor to start the mission.

Getting a few more information on the bandits Lucy starts to patrol the town. Around noon Lucy stops to eat something before resuming her work. She calls out Plue to not be so alone, missing the rowdiness of her Team on a job apart from the normal destruction of course.

Lucy was just about to stop and search for a hotel to stay the night when she hears someone scream for help. The blonde instantly starts running in the direction, sending Plue back since he can't hold the same tempo as her. While running Lucy notices that her training really payed off, she is so much faster than before and can run for longer periods of time.

Lucy readies her whip.

Seeing that the bandits luckily are running in her direction, she stops in the middle of the street and waits for them to come closer.

"Stop right there! Or I will have to make you stop!", Lucy warns the fast approaching three bandits. They just laugh at her.

"Oh? And how do you plan to do this, little girl?", one of them mocks her. "Yeah, little girl, what can you do?! It's us three against you...", the second one mocks. "...and you look pretty weak!", the third added.

At this Lucy's right eyebrow begins to twitch in annoyance. If there is something that she hates, other than insulting her Spirits, it's to be called weak, especially after all the hard training these last weeks.

Not even calling for one of her Spirits, Lucy attacks with her whip. Wrapping the end around the first and throwing him into the second one. The third gets an extra hard Lucy-Kick and is out cold after hitting the ground. One of the other two gets up again an attacks her, thinking that she has no chance in hand to hand combat against him. But since Lucy trained with Loke extra hard to get better in this, she doges his fists easily. Waiting for the right opportunity Lucy kicks him when she sees an opening. Fortunately he lands on the other one, who was just about to get up again. They both land in heap on the floor, out cold.

Lucy huffs and smirks at their unconscious forms, "That's what I'm gonna do about it!"

Then she proceeds to call out Taurus to help her carry the bandits, they drop them off at the police station.

After that Lucy walks back to the Mayor to tell him about the finished job. The mayor, happy to hear this, gives Lucy her reward and tells her which hotel she should choose since he has already booked a room for her as a little extra. The police already called him, and happy to hear that the job was done without any damages he wanted to do this for her.

Lucy happily accepts his offer and walks to the hotel. Even more happy to hear that the mayor booked her an all-inclusive package. Meaning, she can eat dinner and breakfast for free and use the spar too.

She decides to take a quick dip in the hot spring before eating her dinner.

After dinner Lucy inspects her new Silver Key for the first time and sees that it's the Key of the Serpens, she wonders what it can do and can't wait to make a contract. Seeing that it's quite late already she decides to make the contract when she is back in Magnolia at the clearing she always trains in.

Calling for Virgo, Lucy asks for her bag and to tell Capricorn that the training tomorrow will start later since she wants to take the first possible train back. Apart from that she speaks with Virgo about the punishment, they come to the decision to wait until Lucy is back at her apartment.

Before going to sleep Lucy calls for Plue, asking the little guy to stay as long as he can and wants to help her with the overflow of magic inside of her, she noticed that stardust started fall from her again.


	2. Chapter 2

**I am so super sorry for this long wait! I don't even know where all this time went. All I know is, that since I started something new in April I'm constantly studying for exams and what not, there is barely time left to write on my stories (what I really hate)!**

**So I really hope that you will wait for my updates in the future, even though it may take a while before I'm able to update again. Because one thing I know for sure, I will continue to write my stories.**

**Now, without more rambling of my own, have fun reading and as always tell me what you think about it, cause reviews spurn me on to write faster ;)!**

**Much love and until next time!**

**Miyuki**

* * *

The next morning Lucy wakes up with a smile, happy that she has a new Silver Key she can add to her family. Her eyes dim a bit after remembering the letter. Again she can only hope that what ever it is that causes these disturbances won't effect her own Spirits and that she is able to save the ones already affected.

Touching Horologium's Key for the time, he informs her that she has about four hours left until the train leaves. With so much time left, she decides to make this a morning full of relaxation. Take full advantage of the offered breakfast and spa, maybe she will even call out some of her female Spirits to join her. If they have a private room she could even move forward the promised reward for Virgo, her Spirit would certainly like the different surroundings and possibilities this could bring.

A sudden thought crosses her mind; the Spirit King wrote her that this new part to her magic is the caster part and that it's been a long time since a Celestial Mage used this, that this is forgotten knowledge. But what about the other spells she used, like Urano Metria? Aren't these a form of caster magic too?

But that would mean that the knowledge isn't completely lost. Well, maybe that has to do with Hibiki's Archive-Magic...

Or this is something completely different, the King wrote about her being able to form something with this Caster part...

Lucy ponders a little longer about this question but soon comes to the conclusion that she just has to wait and see what her Spirits will tell her about all this after the King gave them the information.

Another thing she wonders about is the fact that the King wrote her in the first place. It isn't so unusual that they're in contact, but normally the King would just tell her Spirits and then they would tell her. But that are mostly just greetings or a tip on her training, something she was sure surprised about the first time it happened shortly after the GMG.

This, now, is the first letter she got from him and such a long one at that, it really worries her.

Why did he write her? Why this sudden information onslaught? Why so much about the new ability she has to train and so less about the disturbances in the Celestial World?

She just can't imagine that he doesn't know more about this, he has to know more. He is the King after all. So why wouldn't he tell her more about it? If he thought that would alleviate her worries he is certainly wrong.

And then suddenly telling her about this new ability, he had to know all along what happens with her. It can't be that her Spirits just now told him about it, why else should he have given them tips on her training. But even these tips were barely hints for her to find out on her own, saying that with that she would gain more in the long run.

Is, what's happening in the Spirit World, so serious that he thinks she has to master this as fast as possible?

Before she can lose herself in her own thoughts, she shakes her head and finally stands up to get ready for the day.

As if knowing that she was ready to start her day, Virgo pops out with Lucy's bag in her hand. "Thanks a lot Virgo!", she smiles in gratitude at her Spirit.

"Say Virgo, I know that we decided to do you punishment tomorrow but do you maybe want to do it here if possible? I have thought about asking for a privat room with a hot spring in it, we could try some new things if you are up for it?", seeing the way Virgo's eyes brighten up more and more, the longer she speaks, Lucy is certain that her Spirits wants this.

And if she is completely honest with herself, she wants it too. At first it was a little awkward to punish her Spirit, after all she always spoke about how she hated Key Holders who would hurt and punish their Spirits. But after some time she realized how much her Spirit enjoyed this time, how much more relaxed she would become after doing a session. And after this started to become something regular, Lucy realized for herself that she rather enjoyed to be the one in control.

"Yes, my Queen! I would be pleased to do as you suggest!", Virgo breathes out, her head bowed. Hearing this, Lucy automatically sits up straighter, head held high. The change in their demeanor happening almost immediately, both automatically falling in their respective roles.

"If that is the case, little one, I will go and ask the staff, meanwhile you can prepare what we need, so that you're ready when I have the privat room. You know what I want to use?", she raises her right eyebrow in question.

"Yes, my Queen! I will prepare myself and the other necessities. May I go back, my Queen?", Virgo bows deeply.

"You may, little one.", Lucy says, her voice strong.

Still in her dominate role, Lucy dresses herself quickly and then strides down to the front desk and asks for a privat and soundproof room. The young, well-build male raises one of his eyebrows at her and then suddenly smirks, imagining for himself why she would want a soundproof room. With a heated look and now lecherous grin, he offers her his help, remembering from the night before that she came alone.

Lucy, certainly not in the mood to deal with the - in er mind - boy, leans over the counter, gives him a once over and then declines his offer strictly. That was all it took for him to lose his overbearing confidence, a little intimidated he hastily turns to the time table for the privat rooms and looks for a free one.

"As of now, Spa-Room 5, should be free for the next two hours and should satisfy your needs.", he looks back up at Lucy and then quickly ads a stuttered, "Miss."

Lucy nods at him and takes the Key before walking back to her room.

Arriving, she sees the different outfits Virgo had laid out for her to choose from. All in black leather, varying only in how much skin they show. But all perfect to wear in the hot, steamy spa room, something you wouldn't imagine, when thinking about leather. She decides to wear one that covers everything needed but not more, the single pieces are all connected with thing straps. A few of these straps cross over her chest, making her breasts pop out even more.

Before leaving the rooms she wraps herself in one of the hotels white bathrobes, suddenly looking very innocent, and smirks at herself in the mirror with excitement shining in her eyes.

Key's already in her hand, to summon Virgo, Lucy steps inside the Spa-Room. As soon as she closes the door behind her, she sends her Spirit a message, to come prepared, through her Key.

Knowing how fast Virgo is to get herself ready, Lucy only waits a few seconds before she pushes her magic in the Key and summons her Spirit.

Virgo appears directly in front of Lucy, already in her kneeling posture with her hands bound behind her back and her head held down in submission. Around her neck Lucy spots one of Virgo's favorite collars, thick and black in color with a streak in the middle of it in the color of Virgos hair and a big ring in the front. In her mouth Virgo has a gag in the same colors. The only thing covering her body are the ropes winding around her body.

Thinking about their plan for the punishment, Lucy furrows her eyebrows in contemplation.

Coming to a solution, she finally drops the bathrobe, still hiding her leather clad body, and steps closer to Virgo and then kneels down in front of her on one knee. "Little one, I know that these are ones of your favorites but I want you to be completely safe today while we try this knew thing."

At this, the Spirit slowly rises her head to look questioningly at her Queen, not really understanding what she means.

Lucy sighs once and then looks softly at her, while reaching behind her to first remove the gag and then the collar, "We already talked about this, little one. I know that, even if I actually hurt you too much while we try something new, you would just go back to the Spirit World to recover and that I can't actually kill you. But, and now listen really good so that you will remember, I will never risk something like that! Never! I would never do something that would harm you in such a way!"

Lucy looks deeply into Virgo's eyes, searching for understanding in them before she continues to speak, "I know that some of you old Masters did this to you. That they punished you to a point were you had no other options but to go back and recover, that they had fun in doing so and that they told you that this was the punishment you always asked for, but I know little one, I know that this was and never will be something you really want for yourself. So please, in the future, think more about your own safety. And while I may say please, know that this is an order!", the last she adds sternly, really hoping that Virgo would think more about those things herself.

"I will, my Queen! And thank you for your concern about my well-being."

"Good, now that we cleared this up, I want you to get another collar. It has to be slim and wider around your neck, so as not to restrict your breathing even the tiniest bit. When you are back we will start our our normal routine before going over to try out what you wished for, breath play.", with that said Lucy stands up to her fill height again and Virgo nods once, eyes shining in determination to please her Queen with her next choice in what collar to wear.

* * *

An hour later Lucy and Virgo are finished with today's session, the only thing left being the aftercare.

Before starting their session they agreed to use the remaining time in the Spa together with Lucy's other female Spirits as relaxation for Virgo. Now over with the session Lucy asks Virgo again, if she is still okay with that before she calls her other Spirits out.

Virgo is only able to nod with her body completely lax and in complete bliss. Lucy has already removed the ropes and collar around her neck and changed her into the prepared bikini.

After changing her own outfit, Lucy walks back over to Virgo and sits down beside her. She moves their bodies in a comfortable position so that Virgo can lean on her and she herself can easily reach out to pet her exhausted but happy and relaxed Spirit. "You did very good today, little one, I am so proud of you! If you want to we can repeat this punishment in the future, slowly increasing the intensity, when we have the opportunity to do so?", Lucy gazes down at her with a soft smile on her face, rejoicing in the fact that Virgo glows in absolute bliss.

"I would love to, my Queen.", she whispers her answers, not able to speak louder at the moment.

Lucy nods, and takes a moment to store the information away and bask in her own bliss before reaching her hand out to finally call the others.

* * *

_Ah, finally I'm here. Now I can finally make that new contract._

With a happy grin, Lucy speeds up her pace to her usual clearing in the forest. She is giddy with excitement to finally meet the hopefully new member of her family.

"Puun!", Plue jumps out of her arms to dance around her the moment she stops moving, mirroring the excitement in his own cute way.

Lucy on giggles at him before saying goodbye and sending him back home, wanting to be alone while meeting the new Spirit.

She takes a few deep breaths, takes out the new Key, not noticing that the color is a little dull compared to her other Keys, and than pushes her magic in said Key, "I am linked to the path to the World of Celestial Spirits, now! O Spirit, answer my call and pass through the Gate. Open Gate of the Snake, ..."

"Lucy! Stop!", Loke suddenly shouts the moment he opens his own Gate. But, it was too late, "Serpens!", she finishes confused.

The familiar chime is heard and Lucy feels the Gate open in front of her, while she turned back around to stare at Loke with wide and confused eyes.

Feeling that the Gate is fully open, Lucy turns back around to great the Spirit, still not knowing why Loke would want her to stop or what he wanted her to spot.

Half turn she stops dead in her tracks, eyes widening in unmitigated shock and terror.

Instead of, what she knew from books should be white-golden eyes there was only one with this color, the other was a bilious green emitting a sickening feeling.

Not being able to look away, even while Loke had taken her hand to pull her away, Lucy let's her eyes wander over the rest of the snakes body.

It wasn't too big, but still way bigger than she had read. And, again, the color didn't match the descriptions. About half of the body was covered in the expected golden and white scales with a beautiful pattern visible. Or more like, Lucy assumes that it would be a beautiful pattern, if she would be able to see it completely. But as it is, the other scales are oily black with a more random pattern in the same bilious green as the one eye.

While still in shock and staring at the snakes body she notices that it seams as if the wrong colored scales were slowly spreading over the rest of the body.

Frozen to her spot, she doesn't really notice Loke trying to pull her farther away from the snake but what she does notice is the snake slowly opening its mouth to warn with an anguished whisper, "You have to run! I don't know how much longer I can fight it!"


End file.
